A Company's Job is to Innovate

That's what I've got in my head today. Sometimes you need to sit down and reflect on what is working, let go of what is not, tweak things and move on.

I am trying to tweak my habits a bit. In particular I am trying to force myself to get things done as they come to me, rather than think and worry about them until I have to react to them.

Case in point. I broke a tooth on Saturday. A TOOTH!!

Now that little rascal was bugging me for months, but I was too afraid to go to the dentist. I have never really gone to one in Italy, so I was worried about what kind of materials he would use (wooden mallet? Piece of string on a doorknob?), how much it would cost me, etc. Actually, who am I kidding. I was just worried he would say "Take 'em out!" and suggest I get implanted dentures, which is what a whole heap of people have around here. My solution to the problem: wait.

I waited and waited until the thing just fell apart, busted in half (it broke on a soft piece of pasta, by the way! I didn't even get the satisfaction of having it break on a beer nut or something hard at least!). Granted, it wasn't the front tooth (maybe I would have been faster about getting a dentist in that case), but having a tooth break just isn't my idea of a good time.

So I went to my friend, Dr. Gianni, the dentist. A perfectly gentle, sweet being, a friend even. And wouldn't you know it-- his office was super nice, really modern and he was wonderful. Built that tooth up and now it's just like before. It's even white (my other fear, that I would have a big black hillbilly tooth)! Next week I am going in for a cleaning so that I can avoid mishaps like this in the future.

The other kicker is that the tooth didn't even have a cavity. It just cracked and that's what was causing me the pain. Hmmm. Maybe he could have just stucco-ed it up had I gone earlier.

Lesson learned. Be pro-active.

That's what I am going to do with every part of my life now. If it feels scarey, just do it anyway. BTW since I wrote about being scared yesterday, I still have not lost that feeling, but I keep pushing through the anxiety. I guess this is part of personal innovation, change means going outside your macaroni and cheese comfort zone.